Professors: University experts should speak out on big issues of the day

Akan Malici, right, talks to a student at Furman University. Malici will participate in a panel discussion, "The Public Responsibility of Scholars," today (Thursday) at Furman.(Photo: BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff, BART BOATWRIGHT/Staff)Buy Photo

Two Upstate professors are challenging their university colleagues to take a more active role in the urgent political discussions of the day.

Academics not only have the right but the duty to lend their expertise to sometimes contentious public debates, said Akan Malici, a professor of politics and international affairs at Furman University.

"Scholars have expert knowledge and that expert knowledge deserves to be brought into the public discussion to enrich it and contribute to improvement," Malici said.

Malici and two other high-profile professors involved in activism — Todd May and Paul Thomas — will discuss "The Public Responsibility of Scholars" at 7 p.m. today (Thursday) at Furman University's Trone Student Center.

The event, located in the Watkins Room, is free and open to the public. Furman physics professor Susan D'Amato will moderate the discussion.

"We want to talk about the debt of scholars to the community and the public good," Malici said.

University experts especially have a duty to challenge public officials who make statements of questionable accuracy, Malici said. He cited as an example what he called "false statements" made by the Trump administration on a variety of issues.

"We have a responsibility not to let false statements stand about Iran or North Korea or about global climate change," Malici said.

REACHING OUT

Malici, May and Thomas are urging other professors to reach out beyond their classrooms to the broader public through mass media and public lectures, among other means.

"I think many professors have important things to say to the public on a variety of issues and they should engage with the public in ways that would be helpful in moving forward debate and discussion," May said.

All three men, for instance, have written several guest commentaries for The Greenville News.

"Scholars ought not to confine themselves to writing in obscure academic journals read by 27 people or 35 if they're lucky," Malici said. "There is value to academic writing and publishing but I would criticize an exclusive attention to academic writing and publishing that has questionable societal benefits.

"The task becomes for these scholars to make their scholarship available to the public whether through contributions in newspapers or popular, easily accessible journals, public lectures in local libraries or participating in panel events," he said. "The scholars need to reach not only to their academic peers but also to the public and be in a conversation with them."

CIVIL DISCUSSION

Professors who are used to navigating discussion in the classroom on controversial topics can bring those skills to the public sphere, encouraging civil debate, said May, a longtime Clemson University philosophy professor.

"We live in an atmosphere that is so polarized that folks who can bring reasoned discussion and debate to the public may be able to shed a little light and turn down the temperature a little bit," May said.

University faculties across the academic disciplines have something to contribute, Malici said.

"Scholars in virtually all fields of the university could bring their expert knowledge to the public discussion, whether it is about the lessons of history, about what they teach us about leadership, or about pluralism in a democratic society, or whether it is about environmental degradation or about race and race relations," he said.

University experts also can enrich the public discussion in communities that lack diverse perspectives, Malici said.

"The conversations we're having today are very often lacking pluralist perspectives," Malici said. "They occur in a very narrow range in a very small arena. But the American people deserve to be exposed to a host of perspectives."

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Thanks to academic freedom, a core value of American universities, faculties benefit from the ability to speak out even on controversial topics, May said.

"I don't know of any other profession that enjoys the freedom an academic has to speak publicly," he said.

Malici and May acknowledged, however, that non-tenured lecturers and professors often feel less freedom to make their voices heard on contentious issues.

"Those people are more vulnerable," May said. "The people who are least vulnerable are those who are tenured. They enjoy a good degree of freedom. You can't be fired without serious cause, and being controversial is not a serious cause for firing."

ACTIVIST TRADITION

Malici said universities and professors should see themselves as part of the nation's public checks and balances system that also includes the various branches of state and local government and the media.

"Professors should not only confine themselves to the classroom," Malici said.

But Malici said universities and professors in the South often have shied away from being as activist as their peers in the Northeast or Europe.

May said the activist tradition, among both professors and students, tends to found in big city universities.

"i would say there's more of a tradition of speaking out in urban areas," May said.

Paul Hyde covers education and everything else under the South Carolina sun. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @PaulHyde7.